This wonderful old postcard captures the spirit of what it must have been like to visit Kenilworth Castle back before the age of mass tourism. The ruins look wild, ivy clad and untamed. Many a visitor must have been enticed to come and explore for themselves by such a postcard. Although undated, a similar postcard… Read More The Banqueting Hall – Then & Now
This undated ‘then’ postcard shows the junction of Castle Green, Castle Hill and Castle Road opposite the Queen & Castle pub, known locally as ‘The Godcake’. The ‘now’ images was photographed in early Autumn of 2018. First, a few words about the term ‘godcake’. I confess, I first came across the term amongst the writings… Read More The Godcake – Then & Now
This image of the Kenilworth Castle’s Keep was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows the Keep some time in the late 1980s or early 1990s, and again in the summer of 2018. According to the English Heritage history of the Castle, “Henry I (reigned 1100–35) granted land from… Read More The Keep – Then & Now
On Monday the 8th of July, a group of KHAS members enjoyed a wonderful members-only evening visit to Kenilworth Castle. KHAS chairman Jan Cooper gave us a fascinating talk on the subject “In the Footsteps of Elizabeth I”. Jan’s talk covered the Elizabeth’s various visits to the Castle, culminating, of course, in Robert Dudley, Earl… Read More Photo Gallery – July Members Only Visit to the Castle
This Then & Now comparison pairs a 1960s ‘then’ colour image of what is possibly the castle’s Sally Port with a 2018 ‘now’ equivalent. The images have both been taken with a zoom lens from Echo Meadow to capture the stretch of the castle’s curtain wall between Leicester’s Building and Mortimer’s Tower from the outside.… Read More The Sally Port – Then & Now
This then and now pair of images shows part of an etching by Wenceslas Hollar of Kenilworth Castle, matched with a modern view from 2017. Hollar, properly known as Vaclav Hollar in his native tongue, was born in Prague in 1607 and died in London in 1677, having first travelled over with Lord Arundel to… Read More Hollar Print of the Castle – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison attempts to locate the vantage point of a famous engraving, entitled The East View of Kenilworth Castle in the County of Warwick by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck. The Buck brothers set out around England in 1724 to record numerous antiquaries, including abbeys, castles and townscapes, usually under the patronage of… Read More Buck Print of the Castle – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison shows what is variously referred to on old postcards as either the ‘rustic bridge’ or ‘fairy bridge’, which once connected Mortimer’s Tower to the outer bailey. This allowed visitors inside the castle to cross outwards to visit Mortimer’s Tower at a time when it was otherwise inaccessible from either inside… Read More The Fairy Bridge – Then & Now
It is testament to the fame that the romantic ruins of Kenilworth Castle attained in the early 19th century that an artist of J. M. W. Turner’s calibre chose to paint the scene shown here. The painting of circa 1830, in watercolour, bodycolour and graphite on paper, is now in the Fine Arts Museums of… Read More Turner’s ‘Kenilworth Castle’ – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison shows Lord Leicester’s Stables, Kenilworth Castle, when it first became used as a cafe for visitors. Later renovations and alterations have since removed extra beams and props and made subtle alterations to the brick and stonework, which make an exact ‘now’ match more troublesome than it might first appear. Hence,… Read More Leicester’s Stable Interior – Then & Now
As we reported recently, for a number of years a KHAS member has been researching and creating a virtual 3D model of Kenilworth Castle as it might have been in 1645. Here is another preview of his model, this time a video time focusing on Leicester’s Stables: This recreation is based on archaeological survey reports, English Heritage… Read More 3D Model of Kenilworth Castle – Leicester’s Stables
For a number of years a KHAS member has been researching and creating a virtual 3D model of Kenilworth Castle as it might have been in 1645. Here are some preview images of the current model. Firstly, a view of the whole castle site from the direction of The Brayes: The next image is of the inner… Read More 3D Model of Kenilworth Castle – A Work in Progress
Jan Cooper discusses the events of the Great Siege of Kenilworth 1266, following on from her earlier article on the life and death of Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham: Those of Earl Simon’s supporters who had escaped the carnage of Evesham made their way back to Kenilworth Castle where we believe Eleanor, Countess of… Read More The Great Siege of Kenilworth 1266
We know a great deal of the phases of development of Kenilworth Castle itself, but what of its enigmatic counterpart known as The Brays? Was it a hastily constructed rampart thrown together as a result of the Siege of 1266? Was it constructed earlier during the reign of King John? Or does it in fact… Read More From the Archives: The Brays
In January 1265 Simon de Montfort called a Parliament (in the name of King Henry III), when for the first time commoners were invited to play a small part in the decisions made. This was an early landmark in the development of Parliament which would, centuries later, result in the two house democratic parliamentary system… Read More Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester
Kenilworth’s role as a royal residence meant that it was often at the centre of events of national and even world importance. A classic example is the story of the insulting gift of a barrel of tennis balls sent to Henry V by the Dauphin, Louis of Viennois during a lull in the Hundred Years War. Henry’s… Read More From the Archives: Anyone for Tennis?
This pair of aerial photos, from 1947 and 2016 respectively, shows a rare mid-twentieth century aerial view of Kenilworth Castle and its modern day equivalent: The ‘then’ photo shows the end cottage on Castle Green before its demolition and behind it stretches a sparsely populated Clinton Lane with very little in the way of modern… Read More Kenilworth Castle Aerial View – Then & Now